Secret Service settles racial discrimination suit, reportedly for $24M

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service have agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in promotion practices by the agency that protects the president.

The Washington Post is reporting that the agency has agreed to pay $24 million to the plaintiffs.

The Post cites court documents and interviews with representatives of both sides.

More than 100 black Secret Service agents alleged in the 2000 lawsuit that they were routinely passed over for promotions in favor of less-qualified white agents.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says in a statement released Tuesday night that he is “pleased that we are able to finally put this chapter of Secret Service history behind us,” adding that the settlement was “simply the right thing to do.”

The Secret Service says that while it “denies any and all liability or damages ... the agreement is a means of resolving this almost 2-decades-old matter.”

The Post says  “the payments to the agents — including lump sums as high as $300,000 each to the original eight plaintiffs — are intended to remedy the sting of the discrimination the agents say they suffered and the job opportunities they lost, according to interviews with representatives from both sides.”

The newspaper reports that Jennifer Klar, the lead attorney for the black agents, “described her clients as thrilled with a result they hope will prevent future discrimination in the agency.”

“At long last . . . black Secret Service agents will not be constrained by the glass ceiling that held back so many for so long,” the Post quotes her as saying.